New dental centre to be created at the University of Suffolk
A new dental centre is set to open at the University of Suffolk’s Ipswich campus.
Work to create a new facility at the university is underway. The centre, which will be run as a social enterprise, will “attract and train newly qualified dentists” to “supply additional much-needed NHS dental provision across Suffolk,” according to the university.
The new centre will boast training facilities for undergraduate students studying dental hygiene and therapy, as well as apprentice dental technicians and dentists pursuing postgraduate education.
The university is working with NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board to try to boost the number of dentists and other dental professionals in the area. Dr Ed Garratt, chief executive of the ICB, admitted that it was “medium-term solution” rather than a quick fix for the current access issues, but suggested that it would “lay the foundations for improvements in the future.”
Vice-chancellor of the University of Suffolk, Prof Helen Langton, described the plan as a “game-changer in terms of future dental health provision in Suffolk and East Anglia.”
Mark Jones, a member of the campaign group, Toothless in England, welcomed the news but said that the centre would make no difference to the hundreds of patients currently struggling to get the dental care and treatment they need. Mr Jones called for urgent investment in NHS dentistry and contract reform and warned that without them, patients in Suffolk would “continue to suffer the ravages of a hopelessly inadequate and inaccessible dental care system.”
Toothless in England is a national group, which launched on the back of Toothless in Suffolk. The campaign group was formed to raise awareness of dental access issues in Suffolk during the pandemic when the town of Leiston was left with no NHS dental providers.
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